WRC 2
Mid-season review: WRC2 title fight wide open after first half
At first glance, the halfway picture in this year’s WRC2 title fight is simple enough. Nikolay Gryazin leads the championship.
Look a little deeper, and it becomes far more complex.
Seven rounds into the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship season, WRC2 has produced six different winners, four points cover the top four in the standings and several of the category’s main contenders still have different scoring strategies to play out.
That matters more in WRC2 than almost anywhere else in the service park. Drivers can nominate a maximum of seven rallies on which to score points, with their best six results counting towards the final classification. It means the midpoint table is not only a reflection of performance so far, but also of rally selection, unused starts and the scores crews may later have to drop.
For now, Gryazin leads on 56 points after victory at FORUM8 Rally Japan. Yohan Rossel, Roope Korhonen and Léo Rossel are tied just behind him on 52, with Alejandro Cachón fifth on 46 and Teemu Suninen still in touch on 42.
It is close enough that one rally can change the order completely.
Léo Rossel claimed his maiden WRC2 victory on Rallye Monte-Carlo.
© WRC
The season began with a result that felt significant from the start. Léo Rossel claimed his maiden WRC2 victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo, keeping his Citroën C3 Rally2 clean through an event shaped by ice, slush and constantly changing asphalt.
There was more to the story than Rossel’s pace alone. Older brother Yohan Rossel, one of the pre-event favourites, lost his chance of a major score after an impact with a rock caused steering damage on Thursday night in Lancia’s first WRC2 appearance. Gryazin then carried much of Lancia’s challenge and looked set to fight Léo for victory before sliding off the road and into a field on Saturday. He restarted and finished sixth, but the win had gone.
Roberto Daprà capitalised with second in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, giving the young Italian an important early haul and setting the tone for a season in which very few WRC2 podiums would come easily.
Sweden immediately shifted the picture. Roope Korhonen controlled the category on snow in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, leading home Teemu Suninen and Lauri Joona for a Finnish lockout of the podium. Korhonen finished 11.2sec clear of Suninen, with Joona 56.2sec back in third, giving the Finn the perfect start to his own campaign.
Safari Rally Kenya brought another reset.
Roope Korhonen controlled in Sweden to launch his campaign with victory.
© WRC
Gus Greensmith set the early pace in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, but a gearbox issue made it difficult for him to engage gears cleanly and forced him into protection mode. Robert Virves took over at the front and, on his first Safari start, delivered the kind of measured drive the event demands.
Virves won from Greensmith, who still salvaged second despite his earlier problems, while Fabrizio Zaldivar completed the podium and Andreas Mikkelsen finished fourth.
Three rounds, three winners, three different types of rally.
Croatia then brought Lancia properly into the fight.
Yohan Rossel and Gryazin returned after skipping Sweden and Kenya and immediately put the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale at the front on the new Rijeka-based asphalt route. Rossel won four stages on Friday and Gryazin two, the pair avoiding the tyre issues and mistakes that caught several rivals.
Back to back victories gave Lancia early momentum in its WRC2 return.
© WRC
But Croatia was not a simple Lancia one-two. Gryazin’s Saturday was compromised by a turbo pipe issue, which cost him time and dropped him away from his team-mate. Cachón also lost ground after a tyre deflation, having been in the fight for the podium in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
That opened the door for Léo Rossel, who kept his rally clean and moved into second. Yohan went on to seal Lancia’s maiden WRC2 victory, with Léo completing a Rossel family one-two and Gryazin recovering to third. Cachón finished fourth, Korhonen fifth and Daprà sixth.
Rally Islas Canarias made Lancia’s asphalt strength even clearer.
Yohan Rossel controlled the category on Gran Canaria’s high-grip roads to claim back-to-back victories. Cachón finished second on home soil, 25.1sec behind, but the final podium place changed late.
Léo Rossel had been part of a tight fight for second with Cachón and Eric Camilli, but a late transmission issue dropped him to fifth. Camilli inherited third in his Škoda, with Daprà fourth and Gryazin sixth.
Alejandro Cachón continues to edge closer to a second WRC2 win.
© WRC
For Yohan, Canarias was a statement: two starts on pure asphalt since Monte-Carlo and two wins. For Lancia, it confirmed that Croatia had not been a one-off. For Léo, it was damage limitation after a weekend that had promised more. For Cachón, second place was another sign that a first WRC2 win was getting closer.
Portugal made sure nothing stayed settled for long.
The opening leg produced one of the tightest WRC2 fights of the season, with three different leaders and six crews holding podium places at some point during Friday. Suninen led early, Jan Solans moved to the front, then Cachón took over as he continued the form he had shown in Canarias.
Cachón’s rally then ended before SS8 with an alternator issue while he was leading. The retirement hurt not just because of the lost points, but because it came on a weekend when he looked capable of converting speed into a first victory.
Yohan Rossel also had reason to leave Portugal frustrated. He completed Friday third, showing the Lancia’s potential on gravel, but later crashed and failed to add to his championship tally. After back-to-back wins in Croatia and Canarias, it was a costly zero.
Suninen was the one who kept his rally together. Driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, the Finn came through to take victory, with Korhonen second and Mikkelsen third. Korhonen’s result was almost as valuable in championship terms as the win was for Suninen, moving him back into the thick of the title fight.
Portugal also underlined the depth of the field. Solans had led, Cachón had led, Yohan Rossel had been in podium contention, Mikkelsen returned to the WRC2 podium and Daprà had to recover from earlier driveshaft issues. It was exactly the kind of rally where one problem did not simply cost a place or two - it reshaped the championship picture.
Japan then delivered a new leader.
In Portugal, Teemu Suninen became the sixth different WRC2 winner of 2026
© WRC
Gryazin and Cachón were the class of the WRC2 field on the narrow, technical asphalt roads around Toyota City. Gryazin won stages, Cachón kept applying pressure and the gap between them was only 5.7sec heading into the final day.
The battle stayed alive until the closing stages. Gryazin carried a narrow advantage into the final test, then sealed victory by 15.5sec after Cachón spun on the Wolf Power Stage.
Cachón had to settle for second again, but his pace across the weekend reinforced the impression that he is ready to win. Yuki Yamamoto completed the podium on home soil, delivering a breakthrough result for the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Challenge Program after a difficult start to his season.
The result lifted Gryazin to the top of the standings, four points clear of Yohan Rossel, Korhonen and Léo Rossel. That lead is useful. It is not comfortable.
Gryazin’s first half has been a mix of speed, recovery and one perfectly timed victory. Monte-Carlo got away from him after his Saturday off, Croatia brought a podium despite the turbo pipe issue, Canarias added points without a podium and Japan finally delivered the win his pace had threatened.
Yohan Rossel has arguably produced the strongest peak form of the season. His Croatia and Canarias double have put Lancia at the centre of the title race, and he also showed competitive gravel speed in Portugal before crashing out. The question for the second half is whether he can match that asphalt dominance on the rougher gravel rallies still to come.
Robert Virves won WRC2 on his Safari Rally Kenya debut
© WRC
Korhonen has been one of the most efficient title contenders. Victory in Sweden, fifth in Croatia and second in Portugal have kept him level with the Rossel brothers despite a selective programme. With Estonia and Finland ahead, his position is particularly interesting.
Léo Rossel remains firmly in the fight too. Monte-Carlo was the breakthrough, Croatia proved it was not a one-off and even Canarias, despite the late transmission issue, still brought fifth-place points. His season has not been as straightforward since the opener, but he has stayed close enough for that Monte win to keep carrying real weight.
Cachón may be the driver whose points total tells the least complete story. Fourth in Croatia, second in Canarias, retirement from the lead in Portugal and second again in Japan have left him fifth overall, but his speed has often been better than that.
Suninen is also still a factor. Second in Sweden and victory in Portugal have given him 42 points from limited starts, and his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 pace makes him a threat whenever he appears. Daprà, Camilli, Mikkelsen, Virves, Greensmith and Solans have all shaped individual rallies too, either through podiums, wins, early leads or missed opportunities.
The car battle has added another layer. Lancia’s return has been the headline, with three wins from the first seven rounds and the team leading the WRC2 teams’ championship. Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2 has won with Korhonen and Suninen and has been a regular podium contender through Cachón and Yamamoto. Škoda remains heavily represented through Toksport and several frontrunners, while Citroën already has a Monte-Carlo win with Léo Rossel.
That variety is why the title fight remains so hard to read.
EKO Acropolis Rally Greece opens the second half with rough gravel and high temperatures, before Estonia and Finland bring high-speed roads that should suit the likes of Korhonen and Suninen. Paraguay and Chile add another interesting gravel phase before Italy and Saudi Arabia close the season with more unique challenges.
For WRC2 crews, each of those events is also a strategic decision. Who nominates where? Who still has starts in hand? And, later in the season, who has to drop points?
At halfway, Gryazin leads and Lancia has momentum. But with six different winners from seven rallies, four drivers split by four points and Cachón close behind, WRC2 is nowhere near settled.
